Our Commitment to Safety and Quality

For nearly 25 years, Primal Pet Foods has pioneered raw nutrition, ensuring pets are nourished according to their biological needs so they can live longer, fuller lives.
 
At the foundation of that mission is our commitment to health and safety. We believe our pets deserve only the highest quality foods, and that starts with a strict set of safety standards and protocols — The Primal Standard.

 

What Sourcing and Procurement Protocols Does Primal Use?

Primal Pet Foods has strict policies in place to ensure the highest quality and safest premium pet food for your dog or cat. This safety and quality process starts with procurement. We use only the very best ingredients, including meats and poultry, supplements, fruits, and vegetables sourced from USDA-inspected facilities and facilities regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

 

How Does Primal Ensure Its Facilities Are Safe for Production?

Our facilities strictly adhere to state and federal regulations for product safety and are regularly inspected by the USDA and the California Department of Agriculture. These inspections ensure that our facilities are up to their standards. 

 

Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs)

Our SSOPs are specific, written guidelines that we follow daily to ensure the cleanliness of our facilities. These protocols are important in food manufacturing, and we employ them without fail to ensure the highest quality raw pet food. SSOPs help to prevent contamination, ensure food safety, and provide consistency in our final products.

 

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)

Similar to SSOPs, good manufacturing practices are a written guide focused on the key areas of quality management, facility and equipment control, personnel training, material handling, production control, documentation, and audits and inspections. These standards are developed specifically for our facilities to meet the needs of our production processes and help to guarantee a premium product.

 

How Does Primal Ensure Its Pet Food Is Safe Before Sending It to Your Local Retailer?

Not only do we maintain high standards for our facilities and equipment, but our processing, testing, and tracking methods are designed to ensure the safety and quality of our raw pet food. These include:

High-Pressure Processing (HPP)
This FDA- and USDA-approved process uses cold water pressure to target salmonella and other food-borne pathogens in our frozen raw foods. Because there is no heat or irradiation, raw foods stay raw without the risk of contamination. Primal Pet Foods’ proprietary HPP process uses low pressure, a cold-water temperature, and short hold times so that the benefits of raw pet food remain.

Test-and-Hold Procedure
Every batch of Primal Pet Foods’ raw food is tested by a third-party lab to ensure it is free of select pathogens before consumption. Once it is confirmed that the food is safe for your pet, the batch is released for shipment. The bacteria we test for are:

• Listeria
• E. Coli
• Salmonella

Segregated Product Lots

Primal Pet Foods always knows when a product lot was made and where it was shipped. This allows for better product handling and greater understanding of where our raw food products end up.

Primal Pet Foods works hard to make sure that the raw pet food for your dog or cat reaches their bowl as the high-quality, premium product you expect. The Primal Standard is our promise to you that we’ve done everything we can to make that happen.